Captain Thunder's NASCAR BLOG

June 27, 2008

Last week I visited the Kennedy Space Center with Ryan Newman. It was an amazing experience and turned out to be a once in a lifetime event. I saw the launch pads up close, the astro van, the shuttle crawler, and the media center where Walter Cronkite called many of mans first trips to outer space. This week, I had the chance to visit the Daytona International Speedway and experience another once in a lifetime event. I was one of the first people EVER to drive the brand new Daytona Driver Simulator.

The fine folks at Daytona invited ARCA/Remax Series superstar Alli Owens and a select few members of the media to help debut the new simulator. Alli ran the fastest lap of the day. She circled the 2.5-mile Daytona track in 49.78 seconds, one tenth of a second faster than my time of 49.88 seconds. I didn’t mind being a tenth slower than Alli, I was the second fastest driver of the day so I felt good about my time, but what I did mind was her putting me on my roof with only two turns to go in the big race.

When the race began, I quickly moved past my media peers and made a pass on Alli through turns 1 & 2. I led the entire race with Alli in close pursuit on my rear bumper. I blocked high, I blocked low, and I ran as close to the wall on the backstretch as I could to gain maximum speed.
Everything was going great as the white flag flew. But, with a hundred people watching and TV cameras rolling, Alli did what she does best, she slammed me from behind in turn three and put me on my roof. My car rolled and flipped until it finally slid down the embankment in to the infield grass. Alli took the checkered flag and proceeded to do a sweet burnout ala Dale Earnhardt in the infield grass right in front of the front stretch grandstands.

The crowd went crazy, the Daytona Speedway announcer was on hand to announce that Captain Thunder had crashed and Alli Owens was the inaugural champion of the new driver simulator. Alli then posed for the cameras, got her winning time and signature posted on the winning driver pit board, and was interviewed by TV crews from across the country. Meanwhile, I slumped down in my seat and sulked over what could have been. I guess that’s why I am a radio personality and she is a professional racecar driver.

Alli and I laughed about the race and she agreed to come on my weekly radio show to make it up to me, but I have to admit…I was crushed at the way the race ended. OUCH, that really hurt my pride!

I thought the Infineon race was pretty good for a road race. My pick to win the race was in second with six laps to go when RCR driver Kevin Harvick came in to one of the Sonoma corners to hot and took out four racecars. So, Tony Stewart remains winless on the 2008 season and Thunder misses out on picking the race winner. Thanks ‘Happy’ you bonehead! At least I didn’t travel all the way to Cali for that debacle.

This week I am staying home again (I hate the New Hampshire track and I hate everything that is Boston…Red Sox, Celtics, Patriots, and Bruins…YUK), and am going to see the ‘Killers of Comedy’ show in Orlando. Mrs. Thunder and I will be heading over to O’Town to see the Reverend Bob Levy, Shuli, Sal the Stockbroker, Yuko the Clown, and Beetle Juice. These guys are hysterical, and frankly, I need a night out!

Daytona is only a week away and as usual, the Big Man and I will be parked in the infield between turns 1&2 with GrandPa Thunder and the whole damn crew! Come by and say hi. I will have plenty of Captain Thunder Racing stickers and show CD’s to give out.

That’s it for this week. I hope you are enjoying our new Video of the Day and our new Top-10 driver post. Enjoy the race this weekend and keep your fingers crossed for my pick this weekend, Kevin Harvick. I am going to give him a chance to make up for last weeks disaster.
If you would like to e-mail me or the Big Man, you can send your messages to Captain Thunder or The Big Man

Make sure all of you satellite radio subscribers tune in to listen to my segment live on the Scott Ferrall show EVERY Friday night during the Sprint Cup season LIVE on Sirius Satellite Radio, "The Scott Ferrall Show", channel 101 The Howard Stern Network. Each week I preview the upcoming race, give out my Legendary Top 5 and pick to win the race, and take questions from NASCAR fans. Check out scottferrall.com , scottbeatstheman.com , & sirius.com You can dial in to the show by calling 888-STERN-101.

Make sure you and your NASCAR friends get together each week and listen to our two radio shows, "Burning Rubber" and "Twisted Metal" . "Burning Rubber" airs each Tuesday night at 9:00 PM e.s.t. You can listen by clicking the link on our homepage and you can also listen to replays in our Radio Replays section.

"Twisted Metal" is an UNCENSORED show and is NOT for those under the age of 18. If you are not a prude or an old lady, check out "Twisted Metal" , it is the wildest show on radio and is not for the timid! "Twisted Metal" airs every Thursday evening at 9:00 PM e.s.t. and replays are also available in our Radio Replays section. You can listen live every Tuesday and Thursday night at 9:00 PM by clicking here - LIVE RADIO

Keep the pictures coming! We encourage you to send us the wildest race pictures you have. Please email them to us and we will post them in our photo section.

Remember to check the site every day, http://www.captainthunderracing.com/ we will continue to update it daily with all of the breaking NASCAR news from around the country!

See You At The Track,

John "Captain Thunder" Nevins